


Of the Fae

by dayishujia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Mythology, Butchering of English Mythology, Gen, M/M, Mentions of various mythical beings, Shiro is such a good boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-21 23:47:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10685391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dayishujia/pseuds/dayishujia
Summary: In this world, there are two types of people: those who believe and those who don’t.For those who don’t, the world appears to be very black and white, mundane and plain. No special color, no flair.But those who believe see the world in a way that those who don’t will never be able to, in colors that they can’t.Keith wasn’t sure if he was a believer.In which Keith discovers a truth about himself he wasn't prepared for.





	Of the Fae

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ilovelocust](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilovelocust/gifts).



> for a prompt by [ilovelocust](https://ilovelocust.tumblr.com/) on tumblr: _Fae AU Sheith. Keith is one of the fae and didn't know it._
> 
> uhh, this kind of got away from me?? i meant it to be a ficlet, but here we are?
> 
> its not beta-ed, so theres probably some errors and kinda reads rough, but i want to get it out so i can eat a little 
> 
> check the notes at the end for definitions of the creatures mentioned.

In this world, there are two types of people: those who believe and those who don’t. 

For those who don’t, the world appears to be very black and white, mundane and plain. No special color, no flair. 

But those who believe see the world in a way that those who don’t will never be able to, in colors that they can’t.

Keith wasn’t sure if he was a believer. Sure, he knew the world was vast and that there was a lot he didn’t know or even things that couldn’t be explained away with logic. But did he believe? 

Shiro believed. He claimed all the time that his childhood home had fairy circles in the back yard, swears his university apartment had hobgoblins who fiddled with his things at night, and that wyvern followed his car on the one-lane roads he drove home.

Shiro was a believer.

Lance, Pidge, and Hunk all claim to be believers too.

Allura was not a believer, mostly because she didn’t have to be. Allura was sídhe  
who had somewhere in time, fallen in love the humans’ realm, who found herself a little apartment next to Shiro’s, who decorated her house with so many worthless tchotchkes that her home felt more appropriate for an old lady instead of the young girl she appeared to be. 

She divulges one day that most of the trinkets were gifts from humans themselves, given to the sídhe by those who believed and didn’t wish to incur their wrath.

Keith wasn’t sure what to believe.

All the time, Allura would tell stories of her world, of the magic she felt and breathed. She told them stories of the witches she’s met, the redcaps she’s crossed, and the will-o'-wisps she’s followed. She tells Keith of the fae, and with great enthusiasm.

“Do you believe?” she asks one day and looks startled when Keith just shrugs. 

“How can you not? Aren’t you….” She doesn’t finish the sentence, her melodic voice trailing off. 

Keith doesn’t think it odd until later that night, after everyone had gone home and Shiro was crawling into his bed. 

“Takashi…” he hums as Shiro curls along the bend of Keith’s spine, his body molding against his. “Why did Allura ask if I believed?”

Shiro made a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat. His nose rubs lightly across the back of Keith’s neck, just below his hairline and Keith shivers. 

“And she looked surprised…”

“Can you blame her?” Shiro asks him. “She’s sídhe.”

“Yeah, but…”

“You’re thinking too much,” Shiro interrupts him. His arm hooks around Keith’s waist and tugs him closer with a firm yank. “Go to sleep, okay?”

Keith sighs. He settles into the space up against Shiro’s body where the larger man held him and closes his eyes to sleep. 

But he can’t. 

“...Did I offend her?”

Shiro frowns; Keith feels it against his hair. “Keith.”

Keith makes an attempt to turn around, to face Shiro, but his boyfriend doesn’t let him. 

“You didn’t offend her,” Shiro tells him. Sleep was already starting to lace his voice and he sounded utterly exhausted. “You would’ve known if you had.”

“Then why…”

“Talk to her about it.” Shiro kisses Keith’s shoulder. “But, for now -- sleep.”

Keith wants to believe. He wants the world to be magical and full of the unknown. 

Sure, he knows Allura and her story and that was proof enough. But belief isn’t knowledge; it’s not necessarily provable, even when evidence was standing right before you, like Allura stood before Keith.

“What’s wrong, Keith?” Allura asks when Keith approaches. She looks worried, her white-as-snow eyebrows knitting, creasing her forehead. “You sounded scared.”

Keith scoffs despite himself. “I’m not scared,” he corrects immediately, followed by a softer, “Sorry.”

Allura waves him off. She opens the door to her apartment wider and ushers him inside. Keith goes and she shuts the door. “You wanted to talk. What about?”

Keith takes a breath. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to say or how he was going to say it. How was he to phrase a question he wasn’t even sure of himself?

They sit on her sofa, embroidered with flowers and vines, decorated with pillows and soft things. Allura grabs one of the pillows and hugs it in her lap as she watches Keith.

She waits patiently.

“It’s okay,” Allura says softly. It’s been awhile since either of them spoke and she smiles at him, trying to diffuse the situation.

Keith glances at her and she smiles. He decides to just go for it. 

“Yesterday,” he starts. “Yesterday, you asked if I believed.”

Allura nods. “I did.”

“And you began to say something, but didn’t,” Keith states. Allura’s face falls a little hearing that and she turns away from him ever so slightly. “What were you going to say?”

She worries her lip between her teeth. “It’s just…” she pauses, “It’s strange.”

Keith was about to ask for clarification when Allura continued: “You. You’re… well, you’re fae.”

Keith frowns at that and nearly scoffs. “What are you talking about? I am not.”

“Okay,” she hums. Her tongue wets her lips as she buys herself some time. “It’s not like I have any proof or anything, but…. I can tell. There’s a difference between us, you know? Us and them, the humans.” 

“We sídhe have our traits, fae theirs, and so on. Our races are very close, but….” Allura leans in close to Keith. Her eyes narrow as she examines his face, her lips pursed into a fine line. “I can tell.”

 

Going home with this news, Keith was conflicted. He look the long way home just so he could have a couple moments more to think.

He was fae. 

If Allura was playing a joke on him, he wasn’t sure he understood the punchline. If she was telling the truth, however….

Shiro was in the kitchen when he got home. He could hear something boiling on the stove, smelled something else cooking. 

He slips off his shoes at the door and Shiro comes out of the kitchen to greet him, but instead asks, “Keith? What’s wrong?”

Keith shakes his head. He wasn’t sure he wanted to repeat anything Allura told him just yet. 

Shiro wipes his palm on his apron and approaches him the way one might approach a scared animal. Keith watches him warily. 

“Did you talk to Allura?” he asks. Keith nods. “What’d she say? ...Was she mad?”

Keith manages to croak out an answer. “No,” he says. “She wasn’t mad but…” He makes a face as he replays in rapid motion the conversation he had with their friend. 

“But, what?” Shiro prompts when Keith doesn’t continue his sentence right away. “What’d she say?”

He looks up at Shiro, sees his boyfriend’s worried expression, and knows he couldn’t keep this from him, even if Allura was playing a joke.

“She -” Keith swallows thickly. His face contorts a little further as he attempts to form the words. “She said… I’m…”

Shiro’s eyes narrowed and Keith could see the cogs working in his head as he tried to piece all the odd pieces of information Keith was giving him together. “You’re…”

“I’m fae.”

**Author's Note:**

> honestly, i thank bbc merlin for most of my mythology knowledge
> 
> fairy circles - _"is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms." "While they are often seen as hazardous or dangerous places, they can sometimes be linked with good fortune."_  
>  hobgoblins - _"a mischievous spirit", a "small, hairy little men who—like their close relative, brownies—are often found within human dwellings, doing odd jobs around the house while the family is lost in sleep"_  
>  wyvern - _"a legendary creature with a dragon's head and wings, a reptilian body, two legs, and a tail." there is also a sea-dwelling equivalent that "has a fish tail in place of a barbed dragon's tail."_  
>  sídhe - _"comparable to the fairies or elves" who are "variously said to be the ancestors, the spirits of nature, or goddesses and gods"_  
>  redcaps - _"a type of malevolent, murderous dwarf, goblin, elf or fairy" who "are said to murder travellers who stray into their homes and dye their hats with their victims' blood"_  
>  will-o'-wisps - _"the light is "fairy fire" held in the hand of a small goblin-like fairy that mischievously leads lone travelers off the beaten path at night."_
> 
>  
> 
> __  
> _all definitions (and better, more complete definitions) can be found on wikipedia._  
> 


End file.
